An insight into Internships
The summer holidays are here and for many final year students it marks both the end of their education and the beginning of their career. For a lot of our graduates, this is the first time they have been in a full time position and the change in status is a big one.
Do internships take you on the right or wrong path of your career?
Many graduates seek internships to gain experience and give themselves a head start on the career ladder. But are they all they are cracked up to be?
According to a recent article in The Guardian internships are increasingly popular amongst Britain’s graduates: “36% of graduate vacancies for leading employers in 2013 will be filled by applicants who've already worked for an organisation as an undergraduate.”
LSBU BEng (Hons) Telecommunications and Computer Networks Engineering Alumnus, Maxime Perret secured an internship with andersDX through the Eagle UK Work Experience Programme which lead on to his studies being funded. Although Maxime completed his internship before he graduated, it has undoubtedly been a fantastic experience for him.
“They let me do whatever I wanted to do, as long as I explained the reason why it should be done. There were no constraints, I learnt so much and everyone was nice. It was great to become a pivotal part of the Engineering team, helping to engineer important products for the company,” says Maxime.
Maxime moved to London from France, so he not only took a big step professionally, but personally too. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent at London South Bank University. The city is great, I made loads of new friends and got time to test and improve my English skills. I received a great deal of support from course tutors and peers.”
andersDX were very happy for Maxime to get involved with the company and his studies with LSBU have certainly enabled him to develop further: “I have taken on full ownership for a variety of projects, after initially starting as an engineering assistant. It has been my responsibility to establish and maintain infrastructure for mass produced products, while my others tasks included to a certain degree technical customer/sales support and hardware/software debugging. My time spent learning on the course had a lot to do with this development, as this time not only gave me the chance to enhance my knowledge, but was a great opportunity to improve my English language.”
So, should you do an internship or not? Let’s weigh up the pros and cons.
A big factor for choosing an internship is gaining valuable industry experience that will hopefully lead onto a career in that field. They also offer the chance to network with a whole range of employers, giving you vital contacts for pursuing your career. Having an internship on your CV can often signal to a prospective employer that you are committed to your career, as many are unpaid this shows your eagerness to gain experience.
However, we all know that there has to be a ‘but’ in there somewhere. The quality of internships can vary dramatically between companies. Whilst a lot (hopefully the majority) of employers value their interns and give them real responsibility, some purely see them as an extra pair of hands for the all-important supply of tea and coffee. There is usually no concrete guarantee of a job at the end of your internship, which is ultimately the aim of it anyway; many interns are left back at square one after their time with the company is up. One big downside to internships is the lack of, or the very little pay. Unfortunately, this is increasingly the case and although a fairly grey area of the law, it is deemed illegal in many cases to not pay an intern.
There are ways to avoid the negatives, though. Research your chosen internship very carefully, as well as the company itself. This will give you a clear idea of what to expect, anything that isn’t in your original job description can be disputed. Use your voice! If you are unhappy with something, talk about it and air your concerns. Many employers are grateful for feedback and will help them improve future internships. Finally, get as much out of your internship as possible. Squeeze as much skill and knowledge out of it that you possibly can, update your CV as it happens and make yourself employable.
If you’ve graduated in the last two years you can get one-to-one advice from our Employability team, speak to them for more information on getting your career on track. The LSBU Alumni Association also has a dedicated job board for graduates of LSBU, why not take a look at our current positions.